April

We got back to Texas 2 days before my birthday and Al wasn't out of town this year!!  I went to lunch with a bunch of girls from church and later that day we went to the mall to find a Tory Burch fitbit cover for my new fitbit.  We had dinner at Seasons 52 which was pretty good.  This was right about the time I started feeling really sick at night.....oh the joys of pregnancy.

We had a Tui day and wore super hero costumes for him.

Alex gave his very first talk in primary and wanted his Dad to help him.  He also gave the closing prayer a couple weeks ago and asked for Al to help him again and said Mom I want you to help me next time :)

We had some crazy rain storms in April and May.  We may have been the only ones driving around and shopping at Costco this day.

When Alex has preschool Cole and I usually run errands or do stuff at home.  It's nice to spend time with just him, but sometimes I feel like I need Alex there to entertain him.

Cole is my little food buddy.  He will usually try everything and he loves Vietnamese, haha.   He shares spring rolls and pho with me at the ripe age of 2.

Oh man these two wear me out especially when Al is out of town......It's hard for me to imagine adding another one to the mix, ready or not.

I bought tickets to go see Thomas the Train and go on a train ride with some friends.  The boys thought it was so cool and I'm obsessed with this picture.

It started pouring after we got off the train so we never actually got a picture with Thomas and I'm not sure what Alex was mad about.

We walked by the corn dog stand and they had to have one except one was as long as Cole so I had her give me an extra stick to split it.  Those corn dogs smelled pretty dang good, but that's only because I'm pregnant.

That night Al and I took the boys to Frisco Commons Park which is this huge park I never want to go to by myself because you can never sit down and just watch them.  

and our Friday night dinner was at In N Out which has been tasting so good to me throughout this pregnancy.  Alex and Cole call it the grilled cheese place and ask for their stickers, hats, and lemonade.

Fossil Rim

Alex had Texas day at school and got to dress his part although we need to invest in some Cowboy boots.  

Al had been out of town all week and we had a horrible rain storms the entire week and day he was supposed to fly home so he ended up driving back from Houston.  Saturday morning he had to go pick up his car from the airport so we took the boys in the rental car and on the bus which they thought was so cool only to discover Al left his car keys at home so we had to go all the way back to the rental car place to rent another car and he ended up going back late that night, good times.

On Sunday we had Stake Conference and didn't end up going so we took a detour to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center which is a 9.5 mile drive where you get to feed animals out your window, so fun.  

These guys would have totally been in the car if it wasn't for their horns and their breath was the worst.

Alex only liked feeding the deer, but little Cole the animal whisperer would feed anything.

We were so excited the giraffe came over to our car and ate through the sunroof, so awesome.

This one would not leave me alone and you can't really drive off.

It took about 2 hours to drive through all of it and 2 hours to get there so it was quite the adventure.   Our last animal we saw was this crazy ostrich.  I let it eat out of our last bag of food and he was so aggressive I just threw the bag out of the window, yikes.

Puzzle time....I just want everyone to know that I actually do stuff like this with our kids too, but I don't have anyone to take pictures of us.

I went through a phase for a couple weeks where I wanted Rudy's breakfast burritos everyday and Cole loves them just as much as me so it worked out great.

Easter

Conference fell on Easter Sunday this year so we went to my moms that morning to watch the morning session and have breakfast.  Cole and Alex got Easter baskets from Grandma and played with Ryan's old train set.

We dyed 4 dozen eggs and Cole and Alex were loving it.

Cole would just drop his in and let it splash everywhere hence why he is shirtless.

After my moms we met Al's family at the cemetery to leave some stuff for Tui and have a balloon release.  The kids thought it would be funny to put stickers all over Cole.

Such a hard thing to go through, but amazing how it brings everyone together.  Shelly and I made Easter dinner complete with a Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and chocolate pie. 

On Monday morning I heard Shelly yelling my name and this is what I found, oooooh Cole.  Thank goodness AL was there and got it right off and then Shelly threw that toy in the trash.

That night we celebrated my Birthday at Cheesecake Factory.  Cole loves Uncle Ryan, but they call him Uncle Nasty now because he was always trying to get them to say that's nasty?

All of us at dinner and me feeling sicker than a dog.  Everyone was trying to get us to commit to a cruise this winter, but then Al just told them that I was pregnant and we couldn't go.

We wandered around the mall for a little bit after dinner, watched Al 4 have a dance session in Lulu and then said goodbye to everyone.

We had an early morning flight Tuesday morning and I puked in the same toilet at probably the same time as our last early morning flight when I had the flu except I would pick the flu any day over morning sickness.  Cole of course made friends with the guy sitting next to him talking and showing him everything.  

When we got home we were greeted with lots of hearts from our dear Texas friends in memory of Tui.  I just can't imagine losing a child and what you have to deal with.  We will miss sweet Tui and always remember him.

Family Fun

The day after the funeral we had lunch with my mom and Sarah at a family favorite, Cafe Trang.  We stopped by to visit my Grandma on the way to Park City.  2 months later Alex still talks about the Grandma that lives in the hotel.  So many Grandmas in Utah!!

We met Al's family up at their stay cation in Park City and took the kids swimming.

Al was a good sport and swam with all of the kids while they all hung on him.

Cole discovered he loves to draw and he was really into it drawing tiny little circles.

All of us before dinner!!  

and the Al's plus Cole by the full moon.  Park City is so beautiful, wish we could have stayed longer.

Egg Hunts

We had so much fun spending Easter in Utah. We went to an egg hunt at Alice's retirement home and found a ton of eggs and had donuts.

Cole and Alex ran up to the Easter Bunny and gave him a hug.

All of us including sweet Alice.

We took a trip to Home Depot to help my mom get a bathroom vanity and had some popcorn.

We got to attend the annual White Easter egg hunt which is so awesome.   I sat on this chair and it collapsed with me in it and shattered to pieces....hahah.   Luckily there was only a few of us around, but it was pretty funny.

There is only about 8 or 9 little kids left to actually enjoy the hunt so there are more than enough eggs to go around.

Alex and Max 

Everyone sits in the front room after and unloads the candy and money from their eggs.  Both of our kids ended up with a ziploc bag full of candy and that's after we gave a bag away.

Alex giving Beck loves.....he will be such a cute big brother.

Tui's Funeral

I think everyone was kind of dreading this day and saying goodbye to Tui.  Before the funeral they had friends and family for one last viewing.  I don't think there was one dry eye in that room watching Nikki's kids place their toys in the coffin and of course Nikki and Kaj closing the coffin.

The funeral was beautiful and Al's Dad did great job giving the Eulogy.  

One of my favorite things was watching everyone release blue balloons at the gravesite.

It was so beautiful watching them float away 

We let Alex and Cole say goodbye at the viewing before the funeral and tried to explain before they saw them what had happened and that he was in heaven now.  Alex was a little unsure when he saw him, but then he wanted to keep going back to look at him.  It's been 2 months and they still talk about Tui and how he died and is in heaven now.

The ward had a luncheon for family after the grave site and it was so amazing.  They had every table decorated, someone made this beautiful cake, and there was so much yummy food and desserts.  So many people came together and donated so much of their time to help and it's so touching to watch.

We were finally able to get a picture of all the Al's!!  I wish it could have been under better circumstances, but we were all excited to see Al III.  Life is so tragic, you just never know and should embrace everyday like it's your last.  We Love You Tui